This week I’m at the Mobile Commerce Summit taking place at the M Resort in Las Vegas.  The conference kicked off today with a pre-conference workshop covering Mobile Marketing.  The presenter for this workshop was Bob Gilbreath, Chief Marketing Strategist for Bridge Worldwide.  In his presentation, Bob provided an overview of the current Mobile Marketing landscape and discussed some of the key challenges facing Mobile Marketers as well as some options for really appealing to your target market.  I found Bob’spresentation to be insightful and consistent with many of the recent studies and results from Mobile Marketing initiatives around the world.  Below is a summary of the key points within his presentation:

Barriers and challenges facing Mobile Marketing adoption:

1)    The traditional banner ad approach does not work for Mobile.  Users are looking to access specific information very quickly and as such these ads are generally ignored.  Furthermore, these ads are perceived as a nuisance since the mobile screen size is fairly small and these ads take up valuable space

2)    Mobile Marketing faces a wary customer:  According to a recent Nielson study, the most active users of the mobile internet and applications have expressed the least amount of interest in mobile ads

3)    Mobile ad interruption will likely not be tolerated

·        72% of Americans have registered on the US Federal ‘DO NOT CALL’ list.  This alone says quite a bit about the public’s attitude towards marketing received via phone

·        Service Providers are treading cautiously due to the fear of agitating or losing valuable customers in exchange for pennies per ad unit

4)    The Digital world has created a ‘Selfish Consumer’.  Consumers want to receive information and content on their own terms (ie. on demand) – when & where THEY want it.  Anything outside of that is likely to be perceived negatively

Key drivers that are igniting Mobile Marketing:

1)    Customer expectations of Digital are increasing; consumer expectations of what is available from the businesses and brands that they purchase from are ever increasing.  As such, these businesses need to keep up with that demand or risk losing theircustomers

2)    Mobile has the capacity to enable ‘Value-added’ marketing – the marketing itself can be made to meet a need of the customer.  Example – Kraft Foods recipe application for the iPhone (iFood) delivers value to the customer while at the same time promoting Kraft brand foods

Options for approaching Mobile Marketing:

1)    Provide your target market with valuable information that they may not get through other means, and provide that information at the right time and place

2)    Create an entertaining experience that is interactive and appeals to the lifestyle of the individual

In his presentation, Bob covered a number of case studies showcasing successful Mobile Marketing applications, and most (if not all) of the applications fell into one of the two categories mentioned above.  All of the applications provide some sort of ‘value’ to the consumer, thus creating a positive experience that the consumer then associates to the brand.  The application itself also results in the consumer recalling the brand (especially with repeated use) and as a result produces a greater likelihood for the consumer to purchase products under that brand.

As with any marketing campaign it’s important to understand the target consumer, but with mobile it’s also important to understand the type of mobile device that your target consumer possesses, since it wouldn’t make sense to develop an iPhone app if your target is a group of consumers that don’t tend to own iPhones or even other types of smart phones.  In these cases, the two approaches above can still be used, but would need to be accomplished through an SMS-based campaign initiated through print, online, or even television ads.

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Name: Anant Tailor Title: Mobile Financial Services Delivery Lead Company: DonRiver Inc. View Anant Tailor's Blog